


Already Seen

by inlineforpines



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), F/M, Incest, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 13:43:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6472282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlineforpines/pseuds/inlineforpines
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mabel and Dipper start having strange déjà vu and dreams become premonitions- a Pinecest fic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My first work on AO3! I originally posted this work on my tumblr (inlineforpines.tumblr.com), but figured it was time to share it on other sites.
> 
> Also, THIS IS A PINECEST FIC! So if that's not your thing, then steer clear. The twins are in highschool here (age 17), so if teens bumpin' and grindin' isn't your thing either then also steer clear. Said bumpin' and grindin' doesn't start until a few chapters in and I'll be sure to note when it does.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

It was Sunday. Mabel sat in the kitchen, eating her lucky charms happily in her oversized purple T-shirt and fuzzy pink pajama shorts. She hummed a little songless tune as she munched on another spoonful. Her mom and dad were next to her, sipping coffee and chatting. A pretty typical morning in the Pines house. Yawning, Dipper came in and walked over to the pantry to get his own breakfast. 

They each offered their different variations of “good morning.” The seventeen-year-old sat in the chair next to his twin and started eating straight out of the box, chewing meticulously and staring at nothing. 

It was weird for him not to have said anything back by now. He just kept on staring into space, eyes glazed over. Mabel’s eyebrows furrowed as she leaned forward to look at him better.

“Dip, are you okay? You seem a little… wonky this morning,” she said. He didn’t respond.

“…Dipper?”

“Hu-what?” he mumbled, looking at her blankly. Weird. His face was all… sweaty. Well, more than it usually was. And there was no color in his cheeks.

“Oh, honey, are you sick?” Mrs. Pines got up and knelt down next to him, putting her hand up to his forehead. “Well, I don’t think you have a fever at  
least. Hmm,” she observed. She sat down in her chair again, folding her hands in front of her with concern on her face.

“You are pale as a ghost, that’s for sure,” Mr. Pines said. “Maybe you should take it easy today.”

Mrs. Pines and Mabel nodded in agreement. Yeah, and his eyes were a little bloodshot too, now that she thought of it.  
There was another moment of silence before he finally responded. “I-I dunno. I didn’t sleep well last night,” he said, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. His voice was scratchy and low.

“Aw, Dip.” Mabel patted his shoulder gently. “Why didn’t you sleep? Were you up all night reading again?”

“No, no, it wasn’t that…” he trailed off, thinking to himself. 

Mabel scooted her chair a little closer and started to rub his back with little circles, trying to comfort him. She moved her other hand up and brushed a few strands of curly hair away from his face. As soon as she did, though, his eyes suddenly widened. She could feel him tense up under her hand before he jolted to stand up, the chair scraping against the hardwood floor and his cereal spilling everywhere.

“Woah, hey, what did I do?” she asked with her hand hovering in the air where he used to be.

“N-n-nothing. No—” he stuttered. “I-I just, um… I’m sorry.” Dipper took a little step toward Mabel, then turned around and brought his hands up to cover his face, embarrassed.

“Dipper?” His mother had worry in her voice.

After a moment, he sighed, then turned around again to face her. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’m… a little jumpy for some reason.” Mabel couldn’t help but laugh. “A little?" she said. "You’re so jumpy you might as well be a flippin’ frog, Dipper.”

That got a tiny chuckle out of him. “Yeah, I guess.” He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly and looked down. “Aw, geez, I made a mess,” he groaned, bending down to scrape up some of the spilled cereal into his hand.

“Here, ya dork, I’ll help you,” Mabel offered. She knelt down on the floor next to him and helped him clean up.

“Thanks, Mabes.”

When they were done, Mr. Pines sighed. “Well, at least we don’t have much going on today. I know it’s easier said than done for you, but you should just try to relax, ok Dipper?”

Dipper nodded. “Yeah, ok.”

They finished eating together, but Dipper didn’t say much. He stared at the wall, avoiding Mabel’s concerned glances.

~~~~~~~~~~

Maybe Dipper needed some space today to sort out whatever weird biz was going on his his brain, but did he really need this much space? He and Mabel at least hung out a little bit and did homework together on the weekends, but Dipper had been keeping his distance from her for most of the day. He couldn’t look at her in the eye for very long. He wouldn’t spend more than a few minutes in the same room as her. It was weird for him to be all avoid-y. 

Clearly, something was really bothering him, and it had something to do with her. And like the awkward, emotionally constipated teenager he was, he kept avoiding talking to her about it.

Finally, after a much-quieter-than-usual and sort of uncomfortable dinner, Mabel decided that this was getting ridiculous. She couldn’t let her brother keep wallowing in his self-induced prison. Determined, she strode over to his room and knocked on the door a few times.

“Hey, Dipper?” she called out. No response. She knocked again, louder this time. “Bro, can I come in? I wanna talk to you.”

His voice was small from behind the door. “Mabel, go away. I…I need to be alone right now.”

“Come on, man, you’ve been avoiding me all day. Can’t you just tell me what’s been bothering you?” She waited. “Dipper, please just talk to me. Please?”

There was a pause. She heard footsteps and then the door swung open. Wordlessly, Dipper gestured for her to come in. “Thanks, Dip,” she said. Mabel walked in and her brother closed the door behind her. He leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, staring at the floor.

“So what’s the deal, bro? Why are you being all avoid-y and junk?”

“I-I… well…” he trailed off.

Mabel threw her hands up. “Dipper, come ON! Tell me.” Still nothing. She sighed. “Dipper, please? I want to help you.”

He ran his hands down his face. “Ok. Ok, fine. I’ll tell you. Just— just give me a second. Ugh, this— this is gonna sound insane…” He stepped away from the wall, then took a deep breath like he was mentally preparing himself. Slowly, he looked up, meeting her eyes for the first time since that morning. Mabel’s heart sank in her chest. He looked so… tired. There were huge bags under his eyes and his face was all droopy. What the heck could be bothering him so much?

But there was something else in his look that she couldn’t quite place. She knew how to read him pretty darn well, and this was the first time in a really long while… ok, maybe the first time ever that she had absolutely no idea what was going on in his head.

He finally began to speak. “Look, Mabel, I’ve been having these, um… really weird dreams lately. But, it’s not like they’re dreams. It’s— ugh, this is so crazy…” He took a step toward her, his hands gesturing wildly as he tried to explain. “Somehow, i-it’s like… It’s like they’re more than that. It’s like they’re visions.”

“Wait, what?” Mabel asked. “Visions? That’s, uh. Different.” She tried to think of something to comfort him, but didn’t know what else to offer.

Dipper started pacing back and forth nervously as the words poured out of him. “It started maybe like, I don’t know, a month ago? I mean, it wasn’t like this at first, but they’ve just been getting more and more vivid, and…” He sat down on his bed, wringing his hands together.

Tentatively, Mabel sat down next to him. “And… what?” she asked quietly.

He looked at her again with that same intense, unknown stare, sending a jolt through Mabel’s chest. “And I think they’re coming true.” Dipper was turning red. What the heck was going on?

“What? Coming true? What do you mean, like some kind of premonition thing?”

Dipper shrugged. More and more color came to his face as he talked. “Sort of. I mean… Ok, the reason I was so freaked out this morning when you… y’know, when you were trying to like… comfort me? Was because I realized the same exact thing happened in my dream last night. I mean, I can’t really explain it, but… almost every single event was the same. Me coming downstairs, you rubbing my back and brushing my hair out my face, and—“ He stopped mid-sentence, choking on his words.

At this point, he was very much crimson. Mabel leaned closer to him, her eyebrows raised. “And what, Dip?”

“Whatever, the details don’t matter,” he said quickly, waving the words away with his hand. “I mean… this is only the third time it’s happened, but it’s really starting to freak me out, Mabel. And, I don’t know if this makes it weirder or not, but it’s never about anything particularly mind-blowing. It’s always just… simple little conversations or circumstances.”

He bit his thumbnail nervously. “The point is, either I’m waaay overthinking this and it’s just a really bad case of deja vu, or something messed with my brain and now I’m some kind of weirdo subpar psychic.”

Mabel thought for a moment. “Look, bro, I doubt that your brain’s been messed with. And even if it was, is that really so bad? I mean, hello! Psychic powers? You’d get to be some kind of superhero or something!” she chimed, trying to sound as cheery as possible.

He squinted at her in disbelief. “Mabel, seriously? Of course this is bad! What if something’s really wrong with me? What the hell am I gonna do? It’s not like I can see a shrink about this. They’d never believe me!” He groaned, holding his head in his hands.

She reached out a hand slowly and placed it on his shoulder to comfort him, but he quickly shifted away from her the moment she made contact. Dipper held his hands in front of him haltingly. “N-no, don’t,” he said sternly.

That sent a little pang to her chest. Mabel’s hand hovered in the air for a moment before folding it with the other in her lap.

“Hey, Dip,” she said, “you don’t have to deal with whatever this is alone, ok? You know, if you need to talk or anything… I’m here for you, bro.”

He looked at the floor. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, it’s just that this is so weird and I don’t know what’s going on… and…”

Mabel cocked her head a little at him, a silent way of saying that she was still listening. She waited.

“And…” Her brother sighed. “Thank you. Y’know, for caring.”

“Anytime.” Wisely, she didn’t attempt to put her hand on his shoulder again in fear of getting the same reaction as before. Instead, she gave him a small, but warm smile. 

~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, Dipper seemed to be acting a little more normal. But… Mabel didn’t know if that was because he was actually dealing with his biz better, or if he was purposely avoiding showing any weirdness around her to keep her from worrying. It was just… blargh. It was all very blargh. She’d already offered him help, but every time she tried to talk to him about it again, he was still weirded out and he hadn’t really opened up much since that night. Then again, talking about his feelings wasn’t really his thing anyway.

Despite what was happening with Dipper’s weird dreams, life went on unceremoniously. They took turns driving to school in their old, beat-up van. Mabel stayed after for play practice and art club, Dipper tutored and was on the robotics team (what a nerd). Mabel babysat, and Dipper worked part-time at the library (again, what a flippin nerd). Same old, same old.

One Tuesday night, Mabel was finishing up her painting project, cross-legged on the living room floor, when Dipper came in and plopped on the couch to do his math homework. He absentmindedly chewed his pencil and drummed fingers on his notebook while Mabel hummed a cheerful tune as she worked. After a few minutes of sitting comfortably together, Mabel spoke.

“Hey, Dipper, can you hand me that big paint brush over there on the coffee table? I’d get it myself buuut… I’m too lazy to move right now.”

He put down his pencil and sighed. “Seriously, Mabel?”

“Aww, come on, bro. Pleeeease?” She gave him the best puppy-dog eyes look she could muster, quivering her lower lip.

He couldn’t help but smile slightly at her, but he let out a dramatic groan anyway out of spite. “Ok, fine.”  
Dipper got up, grabbed the brush, and walked over to her. Halfway across the room, though, his foot unwittingly landed on a empty paint bottle.  
“Wha-shit!” he yelled. The bottle took his foot with him and slipped on the carpet, making him lose his balance and fall flat on his back with a loud thump.

He winced. “Ugh, yeah. That happened. Ow.”

Mabel burst out laughing, snorting every other breath she took. “Sweet Sally, Dip,” she giggled. “Do you have any sense of balance at all?”

He sat up slowly, rubbing the small of his back. “Hey, you’re the one leaving empty paint bottles all over the place! And, by the way, when mom sees you got sparkly paint on the carpet, she will definitely flip out.”

She laughed again, waving him off jokingly. “Pssh, it’s fine. She’ll forgive me. Come on, you big dork.” She stood up and went over to him, offering a hand. He took it firmly and she yanked him to his feet. Maybe she yanked a little too hard, though, because he had to grip her shoulder with his free hand to keep from falling forward.

When he finally stood up straight, Mabel had to look up a little to see him properly. (For the record, she still considered herself the overall Alpha Twin. But not in the height category anymore since Dipper gained a solid inch and a half on her about a year ago. Curses.) Strangely, neither of them moved. Usually, now was about the time that one of them pulled away or gave an awkward pat on the back, but they didn’t do any of that. They just stood there, hand in hand, face to face. And Mabel was frozen because of what was probably the most unexpected train of thought she’d ever had.

He was so close that she could feel his breath. His hand was warm in hers. Dark eyes flitted back and forth between her own. Curly hair peeked out from under his old pine tree hat. There was short scruff on his chin, and a slightly parted pair of lips just above it that she’s probably been staring at for way too long.

She blushed furiously. Wait, what am I doing? This is your bro, not some GUY. Geez Louise, get a grip.

Her eyes widened as she realized that all of this was scarily, SCARILY familiar. She pulled her hand out of his grip and backed away a few steps. It forced them both out of whatever stupor they were in before. Confusion fell across her brother’s face.

“Uh, Dip?” she asked.

“W-what?” He was red in the face and strangely breathless.

“You know how you said before that you kept having those weird premonition dreams? But we haven’t really talked about it since that one time?”

“Um, yeah?” he responded cautiously.

“Well cuz, uh… I’m thinking that you might be contagious or something. The same thing literally just happened to me right this second.”

He opened his mouth a little, shocked. After a moment, Dipper stuttered, “W-wha—? Are you serious?”

She pointed to herself and raised an eyebrow. “Does this face look like I’m joking right now?”

There was a pause as he processed the information. “Oh my god,” he whispered.

She laughed nervously. “Yeah. This all happened in my dream last night.”

Dipper made his way over to the couch and sat. “Is this the first time that it’s happened to you?” he asked.

“Yup, pretty sure.”

“Well, shit. Maybe I am contagious.” Her brother took off his cap to run his fingers nervously through his hair, then hooked it back on again. “God, this is just too weird.”

She plopped down next to him. “Heh, you’re telling me, bro.”

He leaned forward, putting his forearms on his knees and folding his hands in front of him. His head turned to face her. “Mabel, we’ve got to do something about this. We have to figure out why it’s happening.”

She gasped. “Ho-ho-hold up. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” He nodded.

“…Are we bringing the Mystery Twins back together?” He nodded again and smiled at her out of the corner of his mouth.

“OH MY GOSH!” she squealed, bouncing up and down. She pulled him into a hug and squeezed tight.

“Ok, ok, alright, Mabel. You’re.. ow, you’re crushing my ribs.”

“Whoops, sorry.” She let go. “We are SO gonna solve this mystery, bro, I can FEEL IT,” she said, taking both his hands and looking dramatically at the ceiling.

Dipper sighed. “I hope so. If we don’t, I think I really will go crazy. We just gotta approach this the right way. Use a scientific method.”

“Don’t you worry, bro-bro. We’ll figure this out together, just like old times.” She held out her fist. “Mystery twins?”

“Mystery twins,” he echoed, and bumped his knuckles against hers.


	2. Chapter 2

“Ok, so I’ve narrowed it down to 3 possibilities,” he began.

Mabel sat on the edge of his bed with her legs swinging back and forth. “Lay it on me, bro.”

Dipper started pacing. He flipped back through his notebook until he found the right page and tapped it with the eraser of his pencil. "Alright. Theory one: we somehow encountered mind-altering substances that made it possible for the two of us to see the future.”

Mabel nodded and pursed her lips, humming thoughtfully.

Her twin continued. “Theory two: we unknowingly traveled to an alternate timeline extremely similar to our original one, except that this one is a day behind and we’re picking up visions from that original timeline when we sleep.”

Mabel narrowed her eyes, confused a bit by that one.

“Theory three: there’s a crack in the space-time continuum and events of the future are leaking into the present.”

“Or, theory four,” Mabel piped. “We’re normal! And we’re just having some extensive deja vu!”

Dipper shot her an annoyed look.

“Yeah, I know. Not helping.” She let out a short descending whistle. “But wheew. This is heavy, doc.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the reference. Then he sighed. “Yeah, a lot of these are time-travel based, but I don’t really have much else to go on…”

“Hmm. Well, at least it’s a start.”

“I guess. We’ll definitely need to adjust these theories as we gather more information, though. And we need to keep a record of each time it happens to each of us. At least then we’ll have more to go on, maybe find a pattern.”

“Can do, Commander Dippinsauce.” She saluted him resolutely, making him roll his eyes and laugh.  
It was like that summer in Gravity Falls all over again.

~~~~~~~~~~

It happened again when Dipper was helping her with her chemistry homework. Then again when “Disco Girl” came on the radio and they sang along at the top of their lungs. And at school when they were just talking in the hallway.

Sometimes the events in their dreams happened the same day, sometimes days or even a week later. Sometimes there wouldn’t even be a dream beforehand, just a serious, daunting feeling of deja vu.

Like Dipper’s premonition dreams, Mabel’s never were about anything particularly eventful or exciting. It was always mundane stuff, but knowing every single detail about those little moments (right down to the body movements and word choice) before they happened never failed to turn that mundane stuff into the weirdest thing ever.

As promised, Mabel kept a dutiful record every time it happened. The writing in her sticker-covered composition notebook grew more and more as the days went on. Dipper did the same, although his accounts had more science-y lingo and were maybe a bit too overly detailed.

Two weeks went by. Mabel was in the middle of typing an English paper when there was a knock on her bedroom door. Without looking up from the computer, she yelled “Come in!” with a sing-song voice.

The hinges creaked a little as the door opened. Her fingers kept clacking away on the keyboard but she heard her brother’s voice. “Hey, Mabes, do you have a minute?”

“Yeah, hold on, just… lemme…finish…this…paragraph…aaaand, there!” She dramatically pressed the period key and turned to look over her shoulder. “Wussup, Dip?”

He leaned his shoulder against the door frame. “Are you doing anything tomorrow after school? ‘Cause I was thinking we should drive over to the Oakland library to see what they’ve got on deja vu. You know, to help with the investigation.”

She turned in her chair to face him and shot him some finger-guns. “Sure, bro, that sounds like a plan. Mystery twins gotta get back into the action, amirite?”

Nodding, Dipper scratched his cheek. “I mean, I’m sure they have something that can help us. We gotta start researching somewhere. You know, besides the internet.”

“Fo sho, broseph.”

“Alright, cool. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” He turned to leave.

“Wait, Dipper, hold up,” she said, biting her lip. “I need to talk to you about something too, actually.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Alright.”

“So, um, I didn’t really think about this until recently, but I was looking over my notes… And well, all my future dreams are always connected to you.”

His eyes widened. “…They are?”

“Yeah. It’s weird, huh? I mean, I don’t really know why, but it’s just something that stood out to me.” Mabel twirled a piece of hair between her fingers.

Dipper opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again to think some more. After another moment, he narrowed his eyes and said, “You know what? I think all of mine have something to do with you, too, Mabel.”

She looked up at him and they held each other’s gaze for a while, then Dipper looked away. That eye contact was getting a bit too… something. Intense? Awkward? “Well that’s something else to go on, I guess,” she said hesitantly. “It’s something we have in common.” She gave him a small smile.

“Yeah,” he responded. Then it was quiet.

“Anyways,” he said suddenly, breaking the silence. “Don’t forget. Library after school tomorrow.”

“I won’t, no worries.”

“Alright then, uh… I’ll let you finish your paper now.”

She laughed. “Ok, Dip. Thanks.”

He smiled again, locking eyes with her for another moment. Then he blinked, shook his head almost unnoticeably, and left.

~~~~~~~~~~

When the end of the week rolled around, neither of the twins had any other plans with friends and they were already exhausted from pouring over everything the library had about deja vu. So, naturally, they decided to spend their Friday night off marathoning movies and eating lethal amounts of popcorn. By the time Mabel came back from the kitchen with two cans of Pitt cola, Dipper had already nabbed the remote and was scrolling through the netflix choices.

“What? No, it’s my turn to pick first!” Mabel whined. “Remember, you went with the extended edition of The Two Towers last time and it was SOOO LONG, I didn’t even get to pick anything!”

Dipper scoffed. “Well, the time before that, you made me sit through The Proposal AND The Notebook, so it was sort of payback.”

“Hey, don’t say you didn’t love it, Dipper. And, if I remember correctly, you definitely cried at the ending.”

“…Did not.”

“Suuure you didn’t.” Mabel laughed. She held out her hand expectantly.

Dipper sighed and shook his head, then finally resigned and handed her the remote. “Thank you, kind sir,” she said, accepting it with a dramatic bow. 

After a good 15 minutes of indecisive scrolling, Mabel finally went with Blues Brothers, something musical and funny that they both liked (mostly because of the whole “dynamic duo” theme- for obvious reasons). Dipper wrapped himself in a blanket and settled down next to her. “Aw, I wanted the fuzzy blanket,” she complained, giving him puppy-dog eyes.

“Geez, you are being extra whiny today.” He didn’t move, but Mabel kept on giving him that sickeningly adorable pout. “Okay, okay, fine. We’ll share,” he groaned, unwrapping himself from the blanket and tossing it over both of them. Mabel curled up in the fluffy fabric and scooted a little closer to her brother to get comfy.

“Hey, Dipper.” She squirmed to face him. “We’re ten minutes into netflix and chill.” Then she gave him the creepiest smile she could muster coupled with an overly-dramatic wink.

Her brother’s eyes became perfect circles as color flushed his cheeks. Then he blinked and snorted, playfully pushing her shoulder. “Mabel, you’re gross. And meme-loving trash.”

“Yup, that’s me! I’m trash and you love me.”

“Pfft. Yeah, yeah,” he said, rolling his eyes and smiling.

Mabel grinned. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and grabbed the popcorn bowl, stuffing a huge handful into his mouth before offering her some. She let her head rest on his chest and snuggled closer, hearing his heart pounding despite the calm demeanor he was putting on.  
The time flew by like it was nothing. Two mystery movies and another musical later, the clock on the living room wall read 3:09am. They’d shifted positions a few times and Dipper had somehow ended up sprawled across Mabel’s lap. He probably nodded off halfway through Little Shop of Horrors because he was snoring faintly by the time the credits started rolling. Mabel was surprised she hadn’t fallen asleep herself.

Her poor twin never got enough sleep. He was always up late into the night, doing homework, studying, reading about the supernatural, investigating theories, or whatever else he couldn’t tear himself away from for his own good. She sighed. The pine tree hat had fallen off his head onto the couch, and his namesake birthmark was peeking out from underneath a mess of brown hair.

Should she? No… probably not. But…ok, you know what? This kind of opportunity rarely presented itself. She hardly saw his forehead anymore except in pictures from when they were kids, so sue her if she was being nosy. 

Mabel carefully brushed aside the curls on his forehead to get a better look at the mark. Why did he always insist on hiding it, anyway? It actually looked kind of cool. It was unique. But then again, embracing the “unique” parts of yourself came much easier to Mabel than it did to Dipper. With her fingertips, she traced over the outline of the constellation. First across the handle, then down and around the ladle, feeling the little bumps at each star. She remembered that she used to be sort of jealous of him for it. Like, she was supposed to be the quirky, fun-loving one and HE gets the awesome birthmark? What’s more quirky than that? But eh, she’d gotten over that a while ago, though. It was hard for her to stay bitter about something silly like that.

Almost without thinking, her fingers continued to trail down the side of Dipper’s face, along his jawbone. His eyes were flickering slightly under their lids. What could he be dreaming about? Hopefully something nice…

When her fingers made it to his chin, she cupped her hand on the side of his face and rubbed her thumb across the cheekbone. He breathed at a slow, steady pace, chest rising and falling soundlessly, lips parted. She cocked her head slightly, unable to tear her eyes away from his lips. Weird. Suddenly, an urge to kiss him washed over her like a wave. 

Oookay, let’s keep it together here, Mabel, she thought. You’re just really tired and loopy right now. 

But the urge was still there, persistently poking at her, saying Do it, do it, do it! Eventually, she couldn’t ignore that little voice anymore and settled for kissing his forehead. That wasn’t so bad, right? Forehead kisses were totally fine.

Leaning over him, she pressed her lips against the stars on his skin. She took her time with it, closing her eyes and letting herself linger there for a moment. It felt… nice. Almost stupidly nice. Then she sat back again, and Dipper shifted in his sleep a little, sighing contentedly. A warm smile cracked her lips and she felt a fluttering in her chest.

Woah.

And then it hit her. That same wrenching feeling in her gut of major deja vu. Geez, that was what, like the third time this week? Man. She needed to remember to write this down in her log at some point but… she was sooo comfy right now, she didn’t feel like moving. And Dipper looked so peaceful for once, how could she possibly wake him up?

Mabel leaned back further into the couch and yawned. Maybe she should try to catch some Z’s too. She closed her eyes, running her fingers absentmindedly through his hair until she fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

In hindsight, that forehead kiss was a very, very bad idea. A week later, she had one of those dreams about Dipper. You know, the ones she usually reserved for guys like Tom Cruise back in his Top Gun-volleyball-scene days, haha…woo boy. 

It came practically out of nowhere. When she woke up, she felt completely shocked, then disgusted with herself. What the heck was wrong with her subconscious?! This was… she didn’t really know what it was. Maybe just a fluke, though. A one time thing. Nothing to worry about.   
Or so Mabel told herself.

Then she had another one. And another. It quickly became one of the worst, and freakin’ weirdest problems she’d ever had in her life. She couldn’t even look Dipper straight in the eye anymore without blushing. Eventually he caught on. When he asked her why she was acting weird, she tried to laugh and brush it off, making up some lame excuse like his acne being gross (which it wasn’t at all. Heck, she had it worse than he did sometimes).

She woke up after the 5th one with her face feeling like it was burning. Practically sprinting to the bathroom, she splashed some cold water on herself, thoughts racing as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. The more she tried not to think about it, the more little bits from the dream kept popping into her head, sending throbs to her chest and between her legs. Oy… The little angel and devil on her shoulders popped up and quickly got into an argument.

What the heck is wrong with you, Mabel?

I wonder what it would be like if we…

No. Stop right there.

It would only be for a second or two.

No. Stop it. Stop thinking about it.

Or ten.

NO. ENOUGH.

Just first base? At least give me that.

Absolutely not.

I’m just curious, is all.

Hopelessly, she tried to brush it off. It’s not like it meant anything, right? Things like this happen all the time. It’s normal to have these kind of…thoughts.

…

Ok, who the heck was she kidding. This was definitely, absolutely not normal. Did this mean she had… feelings for Dipper? How in the world would she even know? She’d always been so sure about herself before with other guys she’d liked, but this was completely uncharted, majorly taboo territory.  
Mabel felt a churning feeling in the pit of her stomach as she realized something else: if all her other dreams about Dipper had been coming true… did that mean that those kind of dreams would come true, too?

Holy crap. Now that scared her. No, it absolutely terrified her. She shuddered, ashamed with herself for even thinking about it. There was absolutely no way that would happen… even if she wanted it to.

Woah woah woah, WHAT? She wanted it to?? Did she seriously just admit that to herself??! She covered her face with her hands, shaking her head furiously. God, this was all so, so messed up. What was she going to do?

She couldn’t just ignore it. This was way too huge to be ignored. It would never work. Suffer in silence? Hide it? Hope and pray to every deity in existence that these feelings would go away with time? That seemed like a reasonable enough option, considering how quickly she used to go from one crush to the other (even though she could feel in her gut that this was bigger than a crush. Much bigger.) Time helps you get over lots of stuff. Maybe not completely, but it helps. Although that would mean major, MAJOR awkwardness in the meantime. Oh man.

The other option was to maybe… try and figure out how Dipper felt about her. But that would be crazy. Entirely insane. And, even if he did, for some otherworldly reason, have…feelings for her, how would that even… work? It would have to be the biggest secret she’d ever kept, and secret-keeping was definitely not Mabel’s strongest ability.

But…would it be worth it? Would Dipper be worth it? That was an even more terrifying thought all on its own. Still, it made her heart ache just to think about it.

No. No no no, she shouldn’t have even considered it in the first place. There was no way that he would feel the same way. It shouldn’t even be a question. That would just be too screwed up.

She went back to her bedroom and stayed awake going over her thoughts for hours, but couldn’t figure it all out to save her life. Plus she was too scared to fall asleep again. Too scared to dream again. All she knew was this was a deep, dark, frightening hole that she was not getting herself out of any time soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now enters the nsfw portion of this fic.

It had been over a month since it started, and Mabel was still holding out. If by “holding out” you mean keeping her not-that-normal-ok-really-not-normal-at-all thoughts away from her brother, because _whoops_ , she just so happened to be harboring a motherload secret to end all secrets. 

Usually, Mabel was open and honest about everything, so not being able to continue that was just so emotionally _exhausting_. Especially because she had to be secretive around someone she spent pretty much every day with. And who had known her since birth. And who she very much wanted to kiss. 

Yeah… that last thing was the tricky part.

An endless string of questions flooded her thoughts every time they were together, even when they were just doing normal stuff like eating or driving to school. Was she making too much eye contact? Too little eye contact? Talking too fast? Avoiding him too much? She second-guessed literally everything around him, and it was _killing her_.

Plus, it didn’t help at all that Dipper kept insisting they spend more time together comparing notes on their dreams to find more patterns or clues. She had to keep flat-out lying to him about her actual dreams and come up with something that didn’t involve _him_. Lying was hard enough for her to do normally, even little white lies. But the fact that she now had to do it on a regular basis was slowly eating away at her.

And, despite everything, Mabel wanted to tell him the truth. She wanted to tell him _so badly_ , it hurt to think about it. Of course, though, she could never tell him, and _that_ just broke her heart.

She’d tried distracting herself from thinking about the whole situation by doing creative stuff like knitting or painting or scrapbooking. But that only allowed her thoughts to wander and gave her weird inspiration to want to always create stuff about _him_ , which of course she couldn’t do. With of everything else that sucked in her life, the best outlet she had for expressing herself was gone.

On the drive home from school one day, the twins were practically silent, which never happened. Well, it never happened under normal circumstances. Mabel was staring out the passenger window, trying her hardest to look at the trees and NOT at Dipper in the driver’s seat in the glass’s reflection.

She sighed, leaning her head on her hand. So this was what her life had become, huh? _Don’t stare creepily at your brother, Mabel! You don’t want him to know that you wanna kiss him, Mabel! Don’t be a sicko, Mabel!!!_

“Hey,” her brother said, clearing his throat. “Are you ok?”

She blinked, but didn’t turn to face him. “Yeah, why?” she replied, hoping that she sounded normal.

They pulled up to a red light. “I don’t know, you just seem really down lately. Did something happen?”

It was times like these that she wished they didn’t know how to read each other so well. _Of course_ he’d noticed her acting weird. How could he not? This had been going on for weeks now.

“What? No no, I’m ok. Just… stressed about school.” She bit her lip. Ugh, what sort of lame excuse was _that?_

Of course, Dipper saw right through that one. He sighed and cleared his throat again. “Mabel, you helped me out when I was going through stuff before. Why don’t you let me return the favor?”

She reluctantly turned to face him, because she knew when she did, she would find him looking at her with that adorable-concerned-brother face 

Yup, there it was. Aaand cue the butterflies. Aw geez, and he was smiling with that cute little half-smile out of the corner of his mouth he did whenever he was trying to be nice 

 _Oh god, why why why why why??? What is wrong with me,_ she thought, heart beating faster in her chest.

The light turned green and Dipper brought his eyes back to the road as they accelerated.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m fine. Really,” she said. It was a small lie, but even things like that were getting harder and harder to say every day.

“Are you sure, Mabes? ‘Cause I can—”

“I said I’m _fine_ , Dipper,” she interrupted. Woah. That came out louder than she anticipated. Where the heck did that come from? Why did she feel so _angry_ all of the sudden?

Her brother looked over at her, his brow furrowed with concern. After a few very awkward seconds, it seemed like he was going to say something. But he must have thought against it, because he turned his eyes back to the road and didn’t look at her again.

Mabel faced the window, cringing and tugging on her hair. _Why did I do that..._

The rest of the ride home was silent.

~~~~~~~~~~

They pulled into the driveway. As soon as the ignition was turned off, Mabel speed-walked into the house, too embarrassed and flustered to look at her brother again. She went immediately upstairs to her bedroom, shut the door, threw down her backpack, and flopped face-down on the mattress.

Burying her head under some pillows, she groaned and yelled into the thick fabric of the comforter with weird ferocity that had been boiling in her gut. She was just… so sick of everything. Sick of lying. Sick of acting so weird around Dipper all the time. Sick of feeling like a gross, horrible human being for liking him and wishing that he liked her back. Why couldn’t her feelings just go back to the way they _were_? 

She flipped over to her back and sat up. This was ridiculous. If she didn’t get out some of her frustration she was going to _explode_.

Storming over to her desk, Mabel threw open a drawer and fished around inside. She pulled out a bunch of acrylic paint bottles, a handful of brushes, and practically slammed them all down on the desk.

Next was the closet. She strode over to it and sifted through the stack of loose canvases until she found the biggest one and laid it across the wood floor. Gathering up the art supplies from the desk in her arms, she sat down next to the canvas and dumped them in a heap next to her.

Snatching a bottle with one hand, she squirted a crapload of red paint on the palette and globbed most of it on a huge, wide brush. She smeared most of the canvas with that color, then grabbed a smaller brush, scooped up a huge blob of blue, and splashed the paint everywhere with furious flicks of her arm. Another brush was doused in green and she did the same thing. Then yellow. Then orange.

It went on like this for what seemed like forever, angrily drenching color after color on top of each other, not even caring that paint was splattering all over the walls and floor.

She suddenly felt a thick tear drip on her hand. For a moment, she just stared at it in disbelief. What? When had she even started crying? Then she shook her head and wiped her eyes on her sweater sleeve. She sniffed and squeezed her eyes shut, taking a shuddering breath.

God, this was just so STUPID.

Overwhelmed with fatigue and embarrassment, the brush she was holding fell out of her hands. She sat pitifully on the floor as more tears fell, shoulders sagging, curly hair forming a veil around her face. With heavy limbs, she tugged the bottom of her sweater over her knees, lifted up the collar around her nose, and hugged herself. She buried her head in her chest as sobs began to shake her entire body. All she wanted to do was hide and never face the real world again .

The room was quiet for a long while except for the sounds of her sniffles and hiccups.

Suddenly, there was a knock at her door. She froze like a deer in headlights. Dipper’s voice called out. “Hey, I just went out and got some gummy koalas,” he said nonchalantly. “Thought you could use some comfort food.”

 _No, no NO, not NOW. Why now?!_ she thought frantically, unable to bring herself to respond. 

“Mabel? You in here?” He opened the door and poked his head in, holding out a plastic bag full of candy from 7/11. The bag dropped as soon as he saw his sister surrounded by a complete disaster area of splattered paint and soiled brushes.

“What the—what happened?”

She couldn’t look at him. “I just… I just needed to…” she murmured.

Dipper was immediately at her side. He crouched down next to her and sighed. Saying her name in a super-caring way that made her stomach flip, he used his sleeve to wipe off a blob of blue from her cheek. “Geez, there’s paint all over you,” he said. Mabel didn’t look at him.

“Uh. Hold on,” Dipper said. “I’ll go get a towel.”

_I’m so sick of this._

“Dipper, wait,” she begged, grabbing his wrist. “Stay.”

His gaze flickered between her hand and eyes. “Um, ok,” he said, sitting back down. For a moment, they simply sat there together in silence. Dipper reached out and patted her shoulder awkwardly, probably unsure of what to say.

Mabel met his eyes. The look in them was so caring and concerned, it made her poor heart pang in her chest. Next thing she knew, she was throwing herself in his arms, hugging him with a fierce grip. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and let her tears fall onto his hoodie. As she sniffled, she unwittingly breathed in his scent, a faint woody smell with something else she couldn’t describe that was just _him_. But it definitely should not have been as comforting to her as it was. Was this too weird for her to do? Um. Probably yes, but right now she didn’t have the energy to care.

“Woah, hey _hey_. Mabel, what is going _on_?” Dipper asked, wrapping his arms around her hesitantly.  

Mabel didn’t respond. How could she?

Dipper waited for a while until he must have figured she wasn’t going to answer him anytime soon. Resting his chin on her shoulder, he sighed and gently squeezed her in return.

They stayed like this until her shaking sobs eventually dissolved into quiet sniffling. Finally, her brother spoke again. “Mabel, you have to tell me what’s wrong.” 

She took a deep breath. “I can’t,” she said, words muffled in the fabric of his shirt.

“Why not?”

“I just _can’t_ , ok? You won’t get it.”

Dipper pulled back and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Look, I won’t be able help you unless you tell me.” 

“ _No_ ,” she said, wiping her nose with the back of her sleeve. “I just… I just… Ugh god, I don’t even know anymore.” Her face contorted as more tears fell, and she frantically tried to wipe them away.  

“Come on, Mabel, what’s _wrong_? You’re really freaking me out.” 

Her chest felt like it was going to burst. Mabel cursed the stupid butterflies flapping around in her stomach. 

You know what? Ok, that’s it. Screw everything. She had to tell him. She _needed_ to tell him. Now. 

Her face softened, and she looked up until their brown eyes met. For the first time, she didn’t try to mask the look she’d been wanting to give him for weeks. Dipper’s eyes widened. 

“Dipper, please just... just… don’t hate me. Please?” she asked. 

He nodded, his face stern. 

“Ok. Um… so, uh…” she began. Oh no. Even without _saying_ anything, her heart was thumping nervously in her ribcage. 

“Man, how the heck am I gonna _tell_ you this?” she muttered under her breath. “Um… So, I… for the past couple weeks, I’ve been...” she paused. “I’ve sort of been, uh… lying to you.” 

Dipper’s eyebrows furrowed with confusion. “What?” he asked, incredulous. He shifted his position uncomfortably. “About what?” 

“About… a lot of stuff. And I’m sorry.” She tugged on her hair nervously. “Dipper, I’m just… I’m just so sick of this. I’m a terrible liar, and honestly I’m surprised you didn’t notice me doing it in the first place, and it’s killing me, Dipper. It’s _killing me_ …” Oh geez, now she's rambling.  

 _Get a grip, Mabel. He needs to hear this without you spazzing out. He deserves that much._  

But her voice was shaking. Every sensible fiber of her being was telling her _no no NO_ , while all the unsensible ones were begging her to _please_ just do it already. The internal battle was making it impossible to get the words out properly.

“And... uh… the _reason_ I’ve been lying is because… ugh, why did this even happen, what is wrong with me..."

"Mabel?" Dipper asked uncertainly. 

"Ugh, I'm sorry. This is really _really_ hard to say. Just _please_ don't freak out." She took a deep breath, squeezing her eyes shut. When she opened them, her face was resolute. It was now or never. 

"Dipper, I like you.” She said it quietly, almost at a whisper. Then it was silent. 

Frantic thoughts buzzed in her head like a swarm of angry wasps. _Oh my god oh my god... He’s gonna think I’m insane. He’s gonna hate me. He’ll never want to talk to me again. Oh, I’m so stupid. Stupid, stupid, Mabel…_  

But Dipper didn’t respond the way she thought he would. He just looked sort of...stared at her. "O...kay?" he said after a moment. "But... what does that have to do with lying?" 

Mabel's heart sank. "Ugh, no _no_ . You don't _get it_." She curled up and hugged herself, looking off to the side. A hollow, broken laugh escaped her lips. "Of course you don't get it." 

And that's when the lightbulb went off. Dipper's expression changed so fast it was almost comical. "Wait, Mabel," he said, his tone much higher than normal. "A-are you—do you...?" 

She looked up at him hesitantly. 

"...you _LIKE_ me?"

Yeah, _that’s_ more like what she expected.

A fresh wave of anxiety washed over her and tears welled up in her eyes all over again. "Please don’t hate me,” she begged, her voice breaking. “I know, it’s all so messed up. _I’m_ so messed up, but I just... I needed to tell you.” She looked at the floor, dejected. “I’m sorry.” 

Now that actually knew what she meant, Mabel was sure he was going to run away screaming. He was going to be disgusted. He was going to hate her as much as she hated herself for ever feeling this way. 

But a gentle hand lifted her face up by her chin, and Dipper’s deep brown eyes met her own. Her heart almost stopped. 

She was met with a longing, desperate, unmistakable look. It was like looking in a mirror. As Mabel sat awestruck, he cupped her face and wiped away the tears glistening on her cheeks. 

“Dipper?” she asked, her voice cautiously hopeful. 

His eyes dropped to her lips, speeding up Mabel’s shallow breaths. Before her brain could comprehend what was happening, Dipper was leaning forward until their faces were barely an inch away.

Another hand came up to glide along her jaw, fingers curling slightly into the hair at the base of her head. For a long while, he just hovered there, so close that it was utterly intoxicating. Her eyes flitted shut, and she reveled in this moment of terrified, but elated uncertainty. 

Then Dipper’s soft, hesitant lips ghosted along hers. The touch was so light at first, it almost tickled, but it still managed to ignite fireworks in the pit of her stomach. She could feel his slow breaths meet her skin as he exhaled. Cautiously, she increased her gentle pressure, lips fitting more snugly together with his. At her response, the fingers in her hair pulled her closer and Dipper breathed in deeply through his nose. 

Mabel brought both hands to his face, kissing him with a tenderness she didn’t know she was capable of. Her hands glided down his neck and across his shoulders before scraping down his chest, touching him as if to make sure that this was real. She’d dreamt about this so many times, she had to be sure. But yes, this was _definitely_ real, and it was _definitely_ Dipper she was kissing right now. _Dipper_. She was filled with complete, impossible happiness.  

Suddenly, she was being carefully guided down onto her back. His warm body covered hers, sending thrills that tingled down her spine and in her fingertips. Mabel’s heart pounded loudly, the sound interrupted only by their rapidly increasing breaths and soft kissing noises that tickled her ears. Her arms snaked around his ribs to circle his back, embracing him as she tilted her head further and swept her tongue inside his mouth. A throaty moan resonated from deep in his chest, voice breaking towards the end in a needy, desperate way. 

Yup, despite the major, _unbelievable_ unconventionality of this, it was definitely Dipper in her arms right now.  

He was quick to return her fervor, twisting his tongue against hers before lightly sucking her bottom lip. _Ho-ly wow_ … A tiny squeak of pleasure escaped her mouth, only encouraging him to do the same again. She clutched him closer, digging her nails into his back. 

Every movement was slow and careful, yet incredibly exhilarating. Mabel allowed herself to become lost in her senses. Half of her was still so incredibly _relieved_ that he didn’t run away, while the other half was still trying to process that yes, this was actually happening. How was this real life again? How did they get to this point? _What?_  

She shifted her position to hold him tighter, inadvertently pressing her hips into his. Dipper broke away, letting out a strangled, breathy moan while Mabel squeaked in surprise. _Woah_. He was very, uh… excited.  

O-oh… my god. Really, she should have known that would happen, but... it took her a long moment to comprehend that _she_ made him like that. Dipper was… because of _her_ , and she… Oh dear lord. It was a strange, scary realization. But it still wasn’t enough to stop her from doing it again. 

So she did, grinding her hips against him in a rolling motion until she felt his erection in just the right spot, making her gasp. Dipper groaned out her name, his voice so low it was almost a rumbling sound. Then there was a moment of silence. Mabel was utterly overwhelmed at the sudden, very-much-unplatonic cravings boiling deep in her gut and between her legs, making her cheeks burn scarlet. 

Dipper’s desperate eyes met hers, silently asking the question she knew he couldn’t say aloud. In response, she nodded slowly, taking his face in her hands once again and bringing their lips together. She poured her whole being into the kiss, all of the feelings she’d been holding back for weeks. Her hands moved to the back of his head and lovingly caressed his hair before pulling him into an embrace and lifting up her hips to press deep into him.

 “ _A-aah…_ ”

Um...woah. Was that _her_ who just made that noise, or him? Or... maybe was it both of them? Mabel had no idea, but it was something she’d only ever really heard in movies, startlingly sensual and desperate. 

Soon, they were both gyrating against each other, keeping their motions agonizingly slow and deliberate. Dipper buried his head in her neck, kissing the skin there with an open mouth, his tongue making little circular motions. Pure, ecstatic pleasure surged through Mabel’s body, prompting her to pick up the speed of her hips. Her hands crawled underneath his hoodie and t-shirt, fingers scraping along his warm skin. 

Dipper’s hands quickly followed her lead, finding their way under her shirt and feeling across her ribs. She shuddered as he tentatively felt across her bra, cradling her breasts with a delicate pressure. She crushed her lips against his, sighing amorously into his mouth. All the while, their hips were grinding into each other as hard as they could despite the annoying barrier of clothes between them. Her entire body felt like it was buzzing, completely lost in him, and how he was making her feel. 

Just as Mabel was about to let a moan burst from her throat, she heard the front door of the house open and slam shut again. They both froze, their brown eyes meeting each other with what could only be explained as expressions of pure, unadulterated horror. 

“I’m home!” their mom’s voice called. “Kids?” Footsteps and jingling keys sounded from downstairs in the kitchen. 

 _Oh god. Oh god. Oh no. Oh my god._ Mabel’s brain had all but short-circuited. 

The air that was unbearably hot and electric just seconds ago turned cold and clammy in an instant. As reality crashed through the haze, the twins broke apart, frantically smoothing their wrinkled clothes and tousled hair. Dipper backed away with his hands in a clumsy spider crawl, searching for his hat. When he found it, he quickly hooked it back on his head and shifted his legs to hide the suddenly embarrassing bulge in his pants. His chest heaved with heavy breaths, his wide eyes looking up to stare straight at her. All she could do was stare back. Her heart was beating so fast she couldn’t even think.

“Kids?” her mom asked again. “Come help me bring in groceries!” 

Mabel sat frozen for a second before remembering that she should probably respond. Because their mother was downstairs. And she had no idea her children had just been kissing. And rounding second base. And grinding all up on each other like a pair of horny rabbits. 

 _Ho-ly crap_. Reality gave her an unforgiving, cold slap in the face, making her blink stupidly. 

She willed her limbs to move, sitting up and clearing her throat. “O-ok!” she yelled. “One sec!”  _Please let that have sounded normal_ , she prayed. She turned to face her brother. “Dipper,” she whispered. 

“Oh my god,” he breathed. “Holy shit…” 

“ _Dipper_ ,” she whispered again. “What do we _do_?” 

“I—I don’t know,” he said finally. “I can’t—I can’t go downstairs right now…” His eyes fell to his crotch, then shot back up again. His cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. 

“Oh. R-right,” Mabel said. She stood up, adjusting her skirt back to its normal position. “Ok. Ok, uh… I’ll go help mom while you, um… cool down a little.” 

“...right.”

She turned to leave, making a bee-line for the door. If she didn’t go downstairs now, their mom would come _upstairs_ , which would be very, very bad given Dipper’s current situation. 

“Wait, Mabel,” Dipper called. 

She stopped, then faced him again. 

“We… we have to talk about this later,” he said. “Promise me.” 

His voice gave out on that last syllable. He sounded so earnest and desperate, it made her heart go out to him even more, if that was possible. Whatever mess they were in, at least they were in it together. And that was one of the most comforting things she could have ever hoped for.

Her lips curled into a slight smile, and she nodded.

“I promise.”


	4. Chapter 4

Taking long, quick strides, Mabel dashed her way into the hall bathroom. She prooobably needed to not look like a hot mess before going downstairs to help her mother.

Even though it happened less than a minute ago, she still couldn’t  _ believe _ it. She’d somehow, miraculously told Dipper that she liked him. That she  _ liked  _ him liked him, and he didn’t run away. He wasn’t revolted. He didn’t hate her like she thought he would. Instead, by some strange, amazing stroke of fate, he’d kissed her. 

She touched her fingers to her lips, the memory of it lingering. Warm, gentle pressure of his lips, desperate hands digging in her hair, their bodies pressed so spine-tinglingly close together. She ran the words over in her head again and felt a flutter in her chest.  _ Dipper _ kissed her...they just  _ kissed _ .

And uh… then they did some,  _ ahem _ , other stuff... and it was electric and unbelievable and  _ holy crap it actually happened _ .  _ What??? _

All this time, she’d thought that it was just her. That she was alone. All that time she’d spent lying, avoiding him, bottling everything up to the point that it felt like she was going to burst.

But now… they were in this together. She wasn’t alone anymore. The thought made her so incredibly, stupidly happy that all she wanted to do was dance through a field of daisies and sing at the top of her lungs.

_ Wait, no no no. Don’t think about all that right now _ , she told herself. There was still her mom to worry about, and she couldn’t afford to let herself get all flustered. 

Mabel flicked the bathroom light on and analyzed her reflection in the mirror. Thankfully, her hair wasn’t as wild as she thought it would be and the blush in her cheeks was fading to a more normal shade. But there were still random spots of color on her skin and clothes. 

Weird. She’d completely forgotten about her recent furious paint-splattering session until the evidence reminded her of it just now. So much had happened since then that it seemed like a lifetime ago. 

A smile cracked her lips as the memories surfaced again. Then she blinked and shook her head slightly, trying to force herself out of her happy stupor. She couldn’t let herself reminisce for much longer. 

_ Gotta hurry, gotta hurry, gotta hurry… _

Quickly wetting a washcloth in the sink, Mabel dabbed away the paint on her skin and did the best she could to clean up her clothes. She tugged her fingers through her hair a few times, then readjusted her sweater and skirt.

She did a turn in front of the mirror, double checking herself. Alright, that was as good as it was gonna get.

Flying out of the bathroom, through the hall, and down the stairs, Mabel found her mom in the kitchen setting down an armful of groceries on the countertop. 

“Hi, mom,” the girl said, giving a small smile as she walked past. She prayed that she sounded normal.

“Hi sweetie, I just got groceries,” Mrs. Pines replied, glancing up at Mabel and smiling back before focusing her attention to organizing some soup cans. “There’s more stuff in the trunk you can bring in.”

“Gotcha.” She moved toward the door before abruptly stopping and turning around on the balls of her feet. “Wait, mom, did you get fruit snacks?”

“Of course.” 

“Yusss,” Mabel cheered, clenching her fist in a victory pose.

Mrs. Pines laughed, rolling her eyes.

Mabel breathed a silent sigh of relief. That whole exchange was pretty typical, so everything must have seemed normal. Thank  _ god _ . 

She headed to her mom’s car and gathered up as much as she could carry. Walking slowly, she could barely see past the pile of grocery bags stacked high in her arms.

Mrs. Pines came outside to bring in more, sighing when she saw her daughter. “Mabel, why do you always do this? You don’t have to carry all that at once.”

“You don’t understand, mom!” the girl retorted, trudging forward with determination. “This is about HONOR! I must bring HONOR to this FAMILY!”

“Why don’t you just make more trips?”

“NEVER!” she shouted, stomping dramatically up the porch and into the house. 

Ok, maybe she was going a bit overboard trying to distract her mom from the fact that Dipper hadn’t come downstairs yet, but it was working apparently because Mrs. Pines laughed again at her daughter’s ridiculousness.

Just as her arms began to shake under the weight, Mabel made it to the countertop and set down the gigantic stack with a huff. “Hah!” she called over her shoulder. “See, I can do it! Our family honor is restored.”

“Well thank goodness for that,” Mrs. Pines sighed. 

As Mabel placed some boxes away in the pantry, a very specific, very recent memory of Dipper randomly popped into her head, making her blush and bite her bottom lip. Good thing she wasn’t facing her mom at that moment.

_ No, stop it, stop it stop it. Now is NOT the time for that _ , she scolded herself.

But it was still so fresh in her mind that it was basically impossible not to think about it, at least a little bit. She couldn’t help it.

Although... there was also a twinging feeling of guilt interrupting her giddy thoughts. She’d had to leave him so quickly after the fact, they didn’t even get a chance to talk about any of it. Because that kind of gigantic emotional  bomb  she dropped on him and all the stuff that followed definitely called for some serious, straight-up-hashtag-real-talk.

Holy crap _.  _ This was all just completely, entirely, unbelievably  _ insane _ waters they were treading. 

Dipper’s voice sounded from behind her, almost making her jump right out of her skin.

“Hey mom,” he said. His tone was surprisingly casual, but Mabel could still sense the nervousness behind his words.

“Hi honey, could you grab the rest of the groceries from the car please?” Mrs. Pines asked.

“Sure.” He turned and headed outside, catching Mabel’s eye as he walked past for a brief second. There were still remnants of that _ look _ on his face from before, even though she could tell he was trying so hard to hide it.

Geez, was her heart gonna start racing  _ every _ time he looked at her like that now? She had to mentally smack herself.  _ Focus _ .

He went out and came back inside a moment later, setting down the last of the bags. 

“So, kids, how was your day?” their mom asked as she continued putting away groceries. Normally, Mabel wouldn’t think anything of the question, but now she was panicking to come up with a good response.

Thankfully, Dipper spoke up first. “Pretty good,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Can’t complain.”

“Same here,” Mabel followed, trying to take his lead of nonchalance. She kept her eyes low, but was unable to help the corners of her lips lifting into a slight smile.

“Anything exciting happen today?” Mrs. Pines continued.

“Uh...” “Um…” the twins said together.

Mabel glanced at her brother, then swallowed before looking away again. She chewed on the inside of her cheek nervously.

“N-no,” Dipper said. “Not really.”

“Yup, everything’s boring on my end too,” she said, wincing at how fast the words flew out of her mouth.

In that moment, Mabel felt so awkward she wanted nothing more than to flee the room and cringe for five thousand years.

~~~~~~~~~~

After some more short-lived, but extremely nerve-wracking small talk, she mumbled an excuse about homework and mercifully retreated upstairs to her bedroom.

When she walked in, she stopped and sighed. A whole section of the floor and a good part of the walls surrounding it were still covered in paint, prompting her to turn on a dime and walk right back out to grab some cleaning stuff. She had to get rid of the mess before her parents saw. 

This wasn’t the first time she’d had to clean up buttloads of paint from her room (don’t ask), so she knew how to do it already (thank god for wikihow). Luckily, a lot of the thick globs were still wet and she was able to clear them away easily with a washcloth, but she had to use some rubbing alcohol to get off the rest. 

Ugh. There was just  _ so much  _ of it, it felt like it was taking forever. 

Yup, she’d sort of, uh...really gone kinda bonkers with the whole “emotional artistic expression” thing. Geez Louise.

Right as she was getting down to the last of the mess, there were a few soft raps on the door and Dipper cautiously poked his head in. 

“Mabel, I—” He looked down at her. “Oh, um... Lemme help you,” he said. The door closed behind him and he grabbed a spare washcloth from the bucket, kneeling down to wipe some stray paint that she’d missed. 

“Thanks, Dip,” she replied softly.

As she continued working, she bit her lip, thinking about what else to say. She said they were gonna talk, and she was going to keep that promise no matter what, but...How the heck was she supposed to... do this? There was no wikihow for starting up a conversation with your bro about how you guys kissed... very un-platonically... like, ten minutes ago.

Oh man.

Well, she had to start somewhere. 

“So, uh…” Mabel piped. “Did you still wanna, y’know… talk?”

  
“Of course,” he said quickly, stopping his scrubbing and lifting his head. It was probably a bit too quickly, though, because he cleared his throat and immediately started fumbling. “I-I mean, yeah. If you still want to, I think we probably should. Cuz, y’know… it’s kind of… yeah.”

“Okey dokey then.” She glanced off to the side. 

There was a long, awkward pause, like the gears in each of their brains were malfunctioning. Mabel had so much she  _ wanted  _ to say, it was just… so hard to find the words to actually  _ say  _ it.

Dipper puffed his cheeks as he let out a long sigh. “This is really weird,” he said with a weak laugh.

“Yeah, you’re telling  _ me _ , bro.”

“I mean… I don’t even know where to start.”

Mabel thought to herself for a moment. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. “Well,” she offered, “how ‘bout that kiss, tho?”

She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth.  _ SERIOUSLY Mabel? THAT’S your opening line?? Come on, girl _ , she berated.

Dipper’s cheeks flared red and his eyes widened to perfect circles. “Mabel,” he laughed, his voice cracking. “You are so  _ blunt _ .” 

He laughed again before clearing his throat. “But y-yeah, about that,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “It was… uh…” His eyes flickered to her mouth, then back up to meet her eyes again. He coughed. “...amazing.” There was a tinge of wistfulness in his tone, making Mabel’s stomach flutter.

She couldn’t hold back her huge, goofy smile. “Heyyy, right back at’cha,” she said, snapping some finger-guns with both hands. The playful attitude she usually had when she messed with him was severely weakened by the fact that she was so flustered by his last sentence. 

“Really?” Dipper asked. 

Mabel nodded.

Her brother gave a small, shy smile. “Wow. That’s uh… good. Good to hear.”

_ Bless this awkward child _ , she thought. 

“Mabel, I can’t tell you how…  _ relieved  _ I am,” he continued, one hand holding his forehead. “I mean… I never, ever thought that you would… and with  _ me _ , I just… man.” He dropped his hand. “You have no idea.”

“Pfft, are you  kidding me ? Do you have any idea how relieved  _ I  _ am, Dipper? I mean… This whole time, I thought…” Unpleasant memories from the past few weeks resurfaced, making her voice catch in her throat.

Mabel had to take a preparatory breath before meeting his eyes again. “I really thought you were gonna hate me.” For like the billionth time that day, her eyes became misty.  _ Get a grip _ . At least this time it was for a much happier reason.

Dipper blinked, shaking his head. “No, no, Mabel,” he consoled, shifting closer to her. “I could never hate you.”

Mabel smiled weakly, her heart surging at his sincerity. “Thanks, Dip,” she whispered. 

The twins moved toward each other, meeting halfway to come into a warm embrace. Mabel wrapped her hands under his arms and around his back, sinking into him. She sighed, letting herself drown in the flooding, happy sensation of holding him like this. Feeling him breathe, taking in his warmth.

“My heart is beating so fast,” she whispered, laughing weakly.

“Same here,” he replied.

His hand came down to caress her hair, fingers running through the curls methodically. It was an incredible comfort, having her brother so close and knowing the feelings that came with each tender touch. She didn’t think she would ever get over this. Ever.

She lifted her head and moved her face beside his, letting her eyelids shut. Her nose brushed against his jaw as she moved closer, breath caressing his skin. The adam’s apple rose and fell in his throat with a dry swallow.

Despite everything, she was still nervous. Still afraid that at any minute now, she’d wake up to find that it was all a dream, like the countless times before. And it had her hesitating, wanting to savor every moment, every little touch, every feeling, in case it was about to disappear.

Carefully, slowly, she pressed her lips against the skin under his earlobe. As she lingered there, she didn’t notice Dipper had nearly stopped breathing. Quiet puckering sounds left her lips. The tension in Dipper’s shoulders disappeared as she worked her way down his jawbone, softly sucking his pulse point. He practically melted against her, letting out a heavy sigh, eyelids fluttering shut.

“Mabel...” he murmured.

She couldn’t help but laugh airily against his skin before continuing her firm, yet gentle kisses.

The seconds ticked by, and Dipper still hadn’t moved a muscle. Keeping her eyes closed, she pulled back and turned her head to face him. Their noses bumped against each other, their shallow breaths mixing. Mabel’s heart threatened to pound right out of her chest.

Finally, she leaned forward and snugly fit her lips into his. What felt like little jolts of electricity surged through her body, pooling in her stomach and making her fingertips tingle.

Inhaling deeply through her nose, Mabel moved her lips softly against him at first. But she quickly became more forceful, impatiently wanting to pick up where they left off. All Dipper could do was cling helplessly to her small frame, blunt fingernails digging into the small of her back as he molded his lips to hers.

Just as Mabel moved her head down to kiss his neck again, she was slammed with an overwhelming sense of familiarity, just like the dozens of times before. Except this time, it was more intense than anything she’d felt before. It was like a suckerpunch to the face combined with a wrenching, sinking feeling in her gut, making her dizzy.

A huge part of her protested, still desperate to kiss him all  _ up _ right now, but the feeling demanded her attention, forcing her to pull back. She looked up to find Dipper staring at her, looking just as dazed as she felt, if not more.

“Dipper, did you just--” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Yeah,” he said.

Mabel nodded. “Me too.”

Her brother’s hand came up to grip his forehead as he stared at the floor. “What the hell is going on?”

_ Ok _ , Mabel decided after a moment.  _ Full disclosure time.  _

“Dipper, I think this keeps happening every time I… Every time I think about you like...  I am right now.” She hunched over to hug herself, embarrassed. “This is why I kept lying to you before.”

“Holy shit.” His eyes flickered around the room as he thought to himself, then stopped to meet her gaze again. He was very careful with his next words. “Mabel, this is a really weird question so _please_  don't take it the wrong way, but... have you been having, like…  _ those  _ kinds of dreams about me?”

“Well, yeah,” she admitted shyly. “But I mean, how the heck was I supposed to  _ tell  _ you -- Wait, how did you know?”

The concerned look on his face deepened. “Because I’ve been lying to you too.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah,” he breathed. Then he spoke slowly. “And… about the same thing.”

Mabel’s chest surged, her jaw dropping in disbelief. “ _ Holy crap. _ ” 

Dipper held his head in his hands, then looked up at her, conflicted. “Mabel, this is wrong, right? This is completely, one-hundred percent,  _ unbelievably  _ wrong.”

Her heart sank. Because no matter what she felt, there was no denying that. It would be impossible to.

“Then why does it not…  _ feel  _ wrong? Why did this happen?” she asked, partly to herself.

Dipper shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t know.”

She instinctively reached for his hand, seeking the familiar comfort of his touch. Despite his obvious nervousness, he squeezed her hand back, rubbing his thumb over her own. They didn’t say anything for a long while, helplessly trying to sort out their thoughts. Mabel finally spoke, her voice small.

“Dipper, what should we do?”

“Well I know what I  _ want  _ to do. As for what we  _ should  _ do?” He laughed weakly, then sighed. “That’s another story.”

Mabel met his eyes again, her chest surging. She lifted a hand to hold his face, thumb caressing the corner of his lips. Her mouth curled into a small smile, silently trying to tell him that everything was going to be okay. A second later, he was kissing her. Hungry lips glided over hers as nimble fingers dug into her hair, felt down her arms, rested firmly on her hipbones. She gripped the fabric of his sweatshirt, pulling him closer. The intense deja vu from before lingered, but she was determined to kiss him back with as much fire and love as she felt in her heart.

Her tongue found its way inside his mouth, and he accepted it wholeheartedly, tilting his head to press further into her. Mabel’s hands hooked around his neck as fingers dug into her skin at her hips.

Suddenly, Dipper pulled away. Her lips followed him in protest but couldn’t catch up in time, leaving her to blearily open her eyes. He rested his forehead against hers with a gentle hand on her cheek, breathless.

“Mabel, we need to stop. Mom might see us...”

Her heart wrenched in her chest. For some reason, even though she knew this was real, a tiny but strong part of her still thought it wasn’t, and refused to let the moment end for fear of waking up after it was over.

She leaned over to pepper kisses across his cheek and down his neck. “Please, just stay a little longer,” she whined. “Please.”

After a moment, he ducked in for a small, but very sweet kiss. He shifted back before moving down to capture her lips a few seconds later, this time drawing it out earnestly. Her eyes fluttered shut and a weak moan was coaxed out of her. He pulled away again, his hand still on her cheek.

“I can’t,” he whispered. “Mom could come up any second, I don’t want her to… I’m sorry.” He finally broke away from her completely. There were footsteps. The bedroom door opened and shut quietly.

When Mabel opened her eyes, she was alone.

She sighed. Since when had her life become so much like a crappy soap opera? Seriously, man, this was getting ridiculous. Flustered, she flopped onto her back and covered her face with her hands.

It also occurred to her that they still hadn’t figured out what in the world they were going to do about this whole… thing. Maybe they both just needed some time to cool off. It was impossible to think straight with all these emotions and unknown supernatural weirdness knocking around inside her head.

Yeah. They just needed some time. They’d figure this out.

…

They had to.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for neglecting to update my AO3 page! I'll update the rest of this fic here but if you want, you can read the entirety of this fic and other fics I've written on my tumblr (inlineforpines, same name as here) by clicking the "my fics" page. Thanks so much for reading!

**~~~~~**

****Mabel swam in deep lake. Strangely, the movement of her treading made no ripples on the water's surface. It was calm, smooth as glass, reflecting the bright, full moon in the cloudless sky above.

Surrounding the perimeter was a forest of birch trees. The pointed, oval-shaped spots on the bark almost looked like unblinking black eyes peering at her. Squinting in the pale light, she searched her surroundings for some sign of where she was.

Despite what Mabel thought was a normal appearance of everything, she noticed that it was eerily quiet. No crickets chirping, no frogs croaking, no wind in the trees. Nothing. All she could hear was the sound of her own breathing. It was beautiful, but unsettling.

Wait a flippin second, did that one tree spot just...blink? Mabel rubbed her eyes with one hand and looked again, but there was no movement this time. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she swam closer to the shore until it was shallow enough to stand.

Mabel leaned forward, put her hands on her knees, and stared at the tree.

Oh my gosh, it just blinked again! She jumped backwards and let out a startled squeak.

"What the heck?!"

After taking a moment to compose herself, she cautiously approached the tree one more time, coming out of the water completely and stepping onto the sandy shore. She reached out a hand to touch it when suddenly, the tree-eye popped out of the bark like a jack-in-the box and an all-too-familiar voice yelled "BOO!!!"

"AAAAAHOHMYGOD" Mabel shrieked. She fell over and desperately scrambled away from the tree.

The voice only responded with nasal, pealing laughter, which echoed across the lake. Mabel felt her pulse quicken. All she could do was stare with wide, frightened eyes.

A triangle of blue fire appeared out of the darkness, surrounding the eye and spinning with demonic synchronization. The flames grew brighter as the laughter became louder and louder. Then, the eye blinked, there was a flash of white light, and there floated none other than Bill Cipher. Top hat and all. 

"Geez, Shooting Star, you are WAY too easy to scare!" he mocked, twirling his cane. "I mean, I had to at LEAST summon a disembodied head before I got a scream out of Pine Tree." Bill floated closer to her. "But hey, nice subconscious you got here! Very picturesque. Although honestly, I would have expected more rainbows." He scratched under his eye quizzically, almost as if rubbing his chin.

Mabel shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts and push away the fear threatening to bubble over. "Nice to see you again too, you... Illuminati fartface," she retaliated with a miraculously steady voice.

"Ouch, such sarcasm! Sounds like you've been spending lots of time with that brother of yours, huh?" He snickered and wagged his eyebrow suggestively.

Mabel's jaw dropped in shock. "I-is THAT what you're here to talk to me about? Well no thank you, I don't wanna hear it,” she snapped. “Just get the HECK outta my dream y-you... isosceles weirdo!"

Bill shrugged. “Hey, I’m not one to judge. Right now I've got something else to discuss."

She furrowed her brow and folded her arms. "Pfft, yeah. Like I'd ever talk to you."

"Well you don't really have a choice here, do you Shooting Star?" He pointed to himself. "Master of the subconscious, remember?" With a snap of his fingers, iron chains flew out of the ground, snaking themselves around Mabel's hands and feet and pulling her to her knees.

Mabel screamed, "HEY, what the HECK?!" She squirmed against her restraints, trying to think of a way to escape but too freaked out to come up with any good plan. She'd never taken on Bill by herself before. 

Bill floated to the ground and leaned on his cane with one hand. "Oh, how I love a captive audience! Kinda  _ freakyyy _ ." He snickered, patting her on the head. "Now that you're listening, I'll let you in on a little secret, huh kid?”

He descended to her level, his closeness sending a chill all the way up Mabel’s spine and making her skin crawl. “How about you go check that secret floorboard in the basement? You know, the one five away from the wall. Might be some interesting answers to your little deja vu problem under there..." Bill flicked her nose with one finger. She shrunk back and scowled. 

"What? Floorboard? What are you talking about, let me go!"

"Come on, I can't tell you straight out, Shooting Star. Where would be the fun in that? Have a little sense of suspense!"

The demon floated upward again and looked down at her, arms behind his back. "Once you do that, I have a strange feeling that you'll want to talk to me again. If not, I could always find ways to screw around with Pine Tree's subconscious! Now wouldn’t that be interesting?”

Mabel glared at him defiantly, clenching her jaw. "Don't you dare go NEAR my brother.”

Bill's eye widened. "Ooh, I'm so scared! Somebody save me from the girl that's all chained up!" He threw his arms up and pretended to run in circles in the air before doubling over laughing. The sight made Mabel’s chest boil with anger and helplessness.

"Whoo boy, this has been fun,” he said, wiping away a tear. “But sadly, it's time for me to go. Y’know, things to do, people to see. And hey, don't forget about that floorboard!”

Blue fire began to spin in a ring around the creature as he floated higher into the air. “Have fun trying to sleep for the next few weeks!"

There was a blinding flash of white light, and Mabel jolted awake. She held her forehead with one hand, lungs heaving as she sat upright in her bed.  _ That did not just happen. That did NOT just happen.  _

With a dry swallow, Mabel brushed the sweat-dampened hair out of her face. She willed her trembling hands to fumble in the dark until she found her phone on the nightstand to use as a flashlight. Sweeping the glowing screen around the room, she searched for… something. Someone. But, to her profound relief, she was alone. 

Taking a deep breath, she turned her phone around to check the time. Mom and dad wouldn’t be up for a while. So, she pulled away the sheets and swung her feet to the floor to stand. There was no way she was gonna wait until morning for this.

~~~~~~~~~~

Cracking open her brother's door, Mabel peeked in with one eye. Only the faint shine of his alarm clock lit the room.

"Dipper," she called out, barely above a whisper. The dark mass on the bed rose and fell slightly with each breath. She called out again, a little louder, stirring him awake.

"Huh…? Mabel?" he responded, voice tired and groggy.

“Dipper, wake up. I need to talk to you. Right now.” The floor creaked as she walked over to his bedside.

“Ugh,  _ seriously _ ? It’s—” he squinted at his clock, “4:30 in the morning. Can’t it wait?”

“No.” She thought she may as well get to the point. “I just had a dream with Bill in it.”

He immediately jolted up in his bed. “Holy shit— Bill? Bill  _ Cipher _ ?! W-we banished him to the Nightmare Realm!”

“Yes, but  _ shhh _ . Mom and Dad are still asleep.”

His voice lowered to a breathy whisper. “But  _ how _ ? He’s not even supposed to have access to our Mindscape anymore.” “I don’t know. Somehow he does and I… I don’t know what to do...” Sitting on the edge of his bed, Mabel hugged herself.

“Hey, hey,” he comforted, wrapping an arm around her. “Look at me. It’s gonna be ok. Just—just tell me what he said.” 

Mabel took a deep breath and looked up at her brother. Even in the darkness, she could see the worry lines on his face.

“He knows. About us.”

Dipper’s face fell, a cold rage in his stare. But he wasn’t surprised. 

“...of course he does.” 

“Dipper, I couldn’t even fight  _ back _ . I couldn’t think of anything, I was just… frozen. I didn’t know what to do.”

Her brother squeezed her a little tighter. “I’m sorry, Mabel.”

She shook her head slightly. “But there was something else, too. He said he wanted me to look under a floorboard. In our… basement. I mean, he said that it’d have ‘answers,’ but that’s so  _ vague _ ! Even for him! For all we know it could be a secret portal to another dimension or, or like a hidden demon in our house!”

“Wait, Mabel, slow down. Answers? Like answers about our premonitions?” His face had lit up with that detrimental curiosity she’d come to know too well.

Oh no.

“Dipper, I know what you’re thinking but… we can’t  _ trust  _ him. It’s  _ Bill _ .”

But he had already stood up and started fumbling in the dark for his jeans. 

“Dipper,” she pleaded.

“Mabel, he can’t hurt us,” he said, pulling on his pants.

“Did you not  _ hear  _ me? I said it was  _ Bill _ .”

“Look, the only way he’d ever be able to come back to the real world is if one of us made a deal with him. And we’re not stupid enough to do that.”

She gave him a judging look.

“Ok, I was stupid before, but that was years ago!” Dipper sat on the side of the bed and shoved his feet into his sneakers without bothering to undo the laces. “I mean, come on, Mabel! What could he possibly do? Laugh at us from another dimension for being into each other? He’s probably just doing this because he’s bored and powerless to do anything else besides mess with us.”

“Then why bother looking at all?” Mabel shook her head slowly. She spoke again, her voice smaller. “Dipper, this isn’t… I shouldn’t have even told you. Please, just forget I said anything, ok? Let’s just go back to bed.”

“And give up the one chance I have to figure this shit out?” he snapped. “I don’t care if Bill told you, I have to  _ know _ .”

He stood up. “Mabel, don’t you get it? If I know  _ why  _ this is happening, maybe we can find a way to make things… normal again. So we can go back to the way things were.”

She shook her head. “Dip, I don’t know about this.”

Taking her hand in a firm grip, Dipper looked at his sister intently. “Nothing bad’s gonna happen. I promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“All that time spent searching for something that was  _ literally _ right under our feet,” Dipper said, laughing to himself. He was holding an old crowbar they’d found in the garage, twisting it in his hands anxiously. “We’re finally gonna get some answers to all this.”   


Despite her curiosity, Mabel was still very much unsure. 

“Dipper, I want to understand this too, but... what about Bill? We can’t even trust him. How do we know that this all isn’t some horrible trap?”

He shook his head. “We don’t. But if we don’t look, then we’ll never know the truth, and I… I just have to know.” 

Taking the crowbar in both hands, Dipper plunged it in between the cracks of the floorboards. He heaved the other end down once with all his strength, but it didn’t budge. He tried again, but it only moved half an inch, the wood groaning in protest. 

“Damn, this thing is really sealed up tight,” he huffed. Then he heaved a third time, and the board was finally yanked loose, making Dipper lose his balance and stumble backwards a bit.

Despite her better judgment, she couldn’t help but want to look inside. How could she not? Mabel picked up the flashlight and crouched down. She squinted, trying to get a better view. It was a pretty deep hole, maybe a couple feet down, and it didn’t seem that old. There were no cobwebs, just some dust flying around from the commotion of prying up the wood.

Then, her flashlight caught on something shiny. She got down on her stomach to poke her head in and shined the flashlight closer to the object. She studied it for a few seconds until she suddenly gasped, recoiling as she finally understood what it was.

“Oh my god,” she breathed. “Oh my god.”

No. No no no no no, it couldn’t be. It was impossible.  _ No. _

“Mabel?” Dipper asked, putting down the crowbar. “What’s wrong?”

 

~~~~~~~~~~


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> THE REVEAL IS HERE! Props to those who called it in advance, you people are the real miracles.
> 
> *NSFW* (like, /very/ nsfw. anyway you've been warned)

"Mabel, what’s wrong?”

The answer couldn't even form in her mouth. She just continued to stare into the hiding space, her eyes glazed over and her brain simply refusing to process the information in front of her.

There was no way this could be real. No way.

Dipper took a step closer and asked again, louder. "Mabel, what is it?” 

She looked up at him. Her eyes were like dinner plates, wide with shock and helplessness.  She couldn't bring herself to speak, but gestured for him to come and see for himself. 

Dipper tentatively picked up the flashlight and walked over to the hole in the floorboards, getting down on his stomach as Mabel did before.

“What the hell?” he whispered.

The frightened girl on the floor next to him watched wordlessly as he reached inside and pulled out several small tubes, one by one, placing them on their side. Each was made out of what looked like copper sheet metal, crudely twisted and soldered together to form a roll, covered with rounded caps on each end.

Mabel could see the pieces slowly coming together in his head, just from the look on his face: shock, confusion, horror. At last, he took out something wrapped carefully in a black cloth. With strangely steady hands, Dipper unfolded the fabric one edge at a time.

His jaw dropped open. It was the Blind Eye memory gun.

There was no mistaking it. It was a golden machine, resembling the shape of a small handgun. A red-tinted glass shield was attached to the base of a pointed flashbulb that took the place of the gun’s barrel, a round dial on the side surrounded by letters. On the other side was a compartment, perfectly sized to for the metal tubes to lock into place.

He sat up, turning to count the tubes with frantic eyes. Then he counted again. And a third time.

"... _ holy fucking shit _ ,” he whispered.

There were six. Three memories for each of them, laid carefully underneath the floorboards of the attic, hidden away. Undeniable proof that they had erased their own memories and buried the evidence— on _three_ _separate occasions_.

Utterly overwhelmed, he fumbled backwards to the wall and smacked hard against it, making Mabel jump. He held his head in his hands and stared at the floor. 

It was quiet for a long while. Finally, Dipper spoke.

“How... did this even get here? I thought it was destroyed.”

Mabel took one of the tubes and turned it over in her hands, studying it. “They’re not even labeled… Maybe, uh, maybe they’re not ours. Maybe they’re somebody else’s memories,” she suggested meekly.

“Wha- of course they’re  _ ours _ , Mabel! Why else would they be buried in our own basement?!” he retorted.

Her brow furrowed as she thought for a moment. “Dipper, doesn’t this… doesn’t this explain what’s been happening?”

“What?”

“This means... we weren’t crazy when we were having those weird dreams.” 

Mabel’s eyes lit up at the realization. “Don’t you get it? This has all happened  _ before _ . It’s like…” Her hands fumbled in the air, searching for a better explanation. “We must have kept erasing our memories. Over and over. So when the same thing happens again,  _ that’s _ why it feels like major deja vu. Or like we knew it was gonna happen.”

Dipper’s eyebrows furrowed. His voice was barely above a whisper. “Oh my- wait, so… they only  _ felt _ like premonitions. But we were just… repeating our own actions without realizing it?” 

“Exactly! It means that this isn’t the first time we’ve…” Her voice softened. “…fallen for each other.” 

It was silent once again as the insane reality of it all sunk in. 

They’d. Done This.  _ Before _ . Somehow, they’d developed  _ feelings _ for each other. Acted on those feelings. And erased the evidence. She didn’t need to think too hard to figure out why they did. There was no question— they did it so things would be normal again. For things to go back to the way they were, like it should be.

“So we’re cursed," Dipper said.

Mabel looked over to him, confused. "What?"

“We're cursed, Mabel."

She sat up a little. "How... how can we be cursed?"

He raised his voice. "I don't know, but it's the only thing I can think of that can possibly explain this… situation. I mean- why else would this keep happening? This... _ thing _ ," he gestured wildly to themselves, growing more heated, "doesn't happen to normal people, Mabel! And we've been exposed to so much paranormal  _ shit _ since we were twelve that I think it's finally caught up to us." His breath was erratic as he paced along the wooden floor.

Mabel felt the urge to go over and try to comfort him, but she thought that would probably (definitely) make things worse right now. He would only turn her away.

Instead, she thought for a moment, trying to find the right words. "Dipper, I guess I see where you're coming from," she consoled. “Cuz I mean, this is a pretty deep, scary, unbelievably weird hole we’ve dug ourselves into, but… to me, this doesn't feel like a curse. It— it just feels like…like…” She trailed off.

"Like what?" he demanded.

Mabel looked up at her brother. "Fate,” she said. “It feels like fate."

He dropped his hands in disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

“Actually no, Dipper. I’m not.”

"Fate?" he scoffed, standing upright and stepping toward her. "Mabel, will you think about this realistically for once in your  _ life _ ? The fact that we just so happen to want to  _ fuck _ each other is not fate." 

His words felt like daggers in her chest. 

He was pacing so much now it was like he was going to dig a rut in the floor. "It is not  _ fate _ ,” he said again, carefully pronouncing each word with pointed accuracy. “There has to be something else. Something more. There's gotta be a real  _ reason _ a-and, since we know that curses are, in fact, a real thing, that's the only logical explanation I can see!”

He threw his hands in the air, his face contorted with rage. "I mean,  _ BILL FUCKING CIPHER _ is the one who told you about this! He’s completely capable of cursing us, and this is probably the most  _ twisted _ goddamn way he could do it.”

A manic, broken smile stretched across his face. “It's the perfect revenge plan! Make us incestuous freaks and let society do the rest to make our lives a fucking  _ nightmare _ !!" he screamed, laughing dryly. 

Mabel had never, ever in her life seen him this angry. Ever. It was nothing short of terrifying seeing him this way. A shiver ran down her spine. 

Thick tears welled in her eyes. Her lip quivered and her voice shook, but she spoke with a strange confidence. "Well, you're not going to make up for what we've done by being so  _ mean _ , Dipper."

He suddenly stopped pacing when he heard her breath hitch and saw the tears rolling down her cheeks. His furious expression faltered, but didn’t disappear completely. Staring at him defiantly, she stood up and slowly walked over to him. 

"Mabel—“

"NO. Don't you  _ DARE _  try to tell me that what I'm feeling is a curse."

“Look, I'm just trying to be realistic here!” Dipper retaliated, his eyes flaming. “God dammit, Mabel, why ELSE would this have happened  _ over and OVER again _ ?!"

She sniffled, her face contorting into a broken frown. "Wha-how is fate any less realistic than a curse, huh? Did you ever think about THAT, Dipper? What if it keeps happening because it's  _ meant  _ to happen?"

Mabel closed the distance between them, enough that she had to look up slightly to see his eyes.

“No. Don't," Dipper commanded, anger still burning in his voice. But she had already laid her hand gently on his cheek. There was plenty fear in his expression, but there was still that suppressed, desperate longing buried somewhere, too. He instinctively leaned into her touch before catching himself. Hastily swatting her hand away, he turned his face away and crossed his arms. She felt another stab to her chest.

"Dipper, I  _ know _ how I feel, and I know that it isn’t... bad." She sniffled again, tears still coming. "I just— When I'm with you, I'm so... I'm so  _ happy _ . It's one of the best things I've ever felt in my entire life."

His brow relaxed a little, some of the anger dissipating at the sincerity of her words. “Don’t you get it?” he said. “Mabel, I… I feel the same as you do. More than anything.”  Then he closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head as the anger returned to his voice. “But it doesn’t  _ matter _ . We’re not  _ supposed _ to feel this way. We can’t. It’s not… normal.”

“I don’t  _ care _ ,” she retaliated, her face scrunched up with determination. “Why should we care about what we’re  _ supposed  _ to do? I’m not an idiot, Dipper! Of course this isn’t normal! But you know what? We’re not hurting anybody. We’re not gonna go and scream it from the damn rooftops or anything. And you of all people should know that  _ morality is relative _ . Who.  _ Cares _ ?”

She waited for a piercing reply from her brother, but heard none. So she continued. “And, for the record, I do not just want to ‘fuck you,’” she made air quotes. "I didn't stop being your sister when I started feeling this way. I still love you to pieces as my twin, and I still wanna hang out with you and always be there for you and for us to just... do everything we've been doing together since… forever."

Grabbing his shoulder, she carefully turned him to face her. "All those old feelings are still there, Dipper. It's just now, when I look at you, I feel something… different. Something more. And I wanna kiss you, like  _ everywhere _ , and..." She took a half-step closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. Her cheek laid against his shoulder as she held him tightly. He tensed up at the contact, but she refused to let go.

“It’s just— Now, I just want to be with you. I want to make you feel good, and I... I don't see how that's a curse."

Mabel pulled back a little.  “I mean,” she laughed faintly, wiping her nose on her sleeve, “I wouldn’t consider it a blessing either, for… obvious reasons. But it’s definitely not a curse.”

Her brother stared at the floor and took a deep breath. Then he lifted his head, and she saw fearful tears in his eyes. 

“Mabel,” he choked, his voice low and quiet. “W-what.. what are we gonna  _ do _ ? I don’t know what’ll happen. I don’t…I...I’m so  _ scared _ …”

Her heart flooded with tenderness and love for her brother. She put her hand on his cheek as she’d done before, but this time he didn’t jerk away. Then Mabel embraced him, her arms slender but strong. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, holding her with the same ferocity. She could feel his body shaking.

“Hey, hey,” she consoled, running her fingers soothingly through his hair. “I’m scared too, but...we’ll deal with this together, okay? We’ll figure this out.”  Mabel pulled her face away for a moment, locking eyes with him. 

She brought up her hands to his face to caress his cheek. As she leaned forward, her eyelids fell shut and she gently fit her lips together with his, reveling in the sparks their kiss sent flying to her chest and stomach.

Then she pulled back, looking at him again to gauge his reaction. Her brother’s brown eyes were puffy and tear-ridden, but some of the fear was erased. 

“Mabel…”

Dipper grasped her hand and took a shaking breath, closing his eyes and leaning into her touch. After a moment, his eyes cracked open again and he reached out to brush the hair out of Mabel’s face. Miraculously, he smiled a little as he looked at her. His hand cradled her face as he pressed their foreheads together. 

“I love you,” he whispered. “I love you.“

“I love you too, Dipper,” was her simple reply.  

And in that moment, she loved him so much that it felt like her heart was burning.  Like she was so full of caring and love and desire for him that it was bursting at the seams. The feeling still scared her, but she held onto it tightly. Because it was more real than anything she’d ever felt. 

Mabel kissed him again, moving her lips ardently. Dipper tilted his head further, sighing and melting into her touch.  Hands grasped the hair at the nape of her neck and Mabel snaked her arms around his torso. He made a low moan as her tongue entered his mouth. Their kiss quickly became more desperate.

She guided him to the wall and pushed him up against it. With their bodies pressed together, her heart beat faster and faster. His warm hands caressed up and down her body, and every little touch sent pangs through her chest, stirring a fire there. His lips were so diligent, so loving against hers, and she responded in kind. Dipper moved to her shoulder, leaving a trail of delicate kisses there and across her collarbone, up her neck, her jaw line. He sucked softly at her pulse, sending electric little tingles down her spine. Her whole body was humming.

Keeping her eyes closed, Mabel felt across his back until she found his arm, then moved down to grasp his hand.  She guided him under her nightshirt and felt his fingers tremble slightly, then press more confidently into her.  Her hand held him there for a moment before letting go to assure him that  _ yes, this is ok. I want this. I want you _ .

Mabel leaned over and kissed the base of his ear. Then she nipped at the earlobe, making him cry out. This only fueled her fire even more, and she boldly pressed against him, rolling their hips together in a firm, fluid motion against the wall.

“ _ Nngh _ ,” he sighed. “ _ Mabel… _ ” 

Then she did it again. And again. Dipper swore under his breath, clutching her closer and ducking his head to fervently kiss her neck.

The all-consuming heat grew ever stronger in her body, drowning her senses with nothing else but that strange, terrifying  _ want _ for him.

Mabel was trembling with excited and frightening anticipation, but that did nothing to slow her down. Her hands fumbled clumsily with his belt buckle and unfastened the button and zip on his jeans. She tugged them down to his thighs, coming up and meeting his eyes knowingly. 

Dipper quickly followed suit, tucking his fingers into the waistband of her pajama shorts and sliding it down her legs. The fuzzy fabric fell to the floor and Mabel kicked it away. 

Before she could say fluffernutter, Dipper’s hand was gone between her legs and rubbing her over her underwear in slow, deep circles. At the same time, he enveloped his mouth over hers, twisting their tongues together and tasting her swollen lips. The combination hit her like a bag of bricks, almost making her knees buckle. 

Mabel moaned into his mouth, kissing him back while pouring her whole heart into her actions. _Holy_ _mother of Moses_ , she thought airily. There was no more hesitation. This was really happening. 

Burning lungs forced her to break away, and Dipper wasted no time in attacking her exposed neck, never ceasing his hand’s careful motion. 

“ _ Dipper... _ ” she whimpered, her senses overwhelmed.

It suddenly occurred to her that she was being very selfish at the moment. Without a second thought, she trailed her hand down his stomach. Maneuvering under his waistband, she ran her fingers up and down his erection teasingly, making him shiver. She took him in a steady grip, rubbing her thumb over the head with little circles before giving a few slow pumps. Dipper tilted his head back slightly and let out a strangled, shuddering sigh, the sound filled with desperation. 

Woah. Ok, she needed to hear him make that noise again.  _ Now _ . She maneuvered her hand a second time, adding a subtle twisting motion that made him sigh and tremble against her.

Keeping a grip on him with one hand, Mabel used the other to finally free him completely from his boxers, then herself from her panties, pulling them down to just below her knees. She captured his lips with a long, knee-buckling kiss before carefully positioning herself closer, guiding him toward her entrance.

“M-Mabel, wait.” Dipper met her gaze with half-lidded eyes, his cheeks completely flushed with color. “Are you  _ sure _ you want to do this? W-we need to be sure...”

“Yes,” was her breathless reply. “Yes.” The answer was the easiest one she’d ever had to give. 

She ran the tip over her lips, back and forth to test the feeling, her body shaking in anticipation. Then, slowly, she guided him inside her, his length gliding between her folds with just the right amount of friction.

“ _ A-aah, _ ” he sighed, his head falling back to the wall as Mabel let out a sensual hum.

The feeling was so strange and intense, it was almost too much. She was awestruck at the reality of being with him, filled with him, feeling almost outside her own body. The only sound was that of their heavy breathing, their pounding hearts. 

“Are you ok?” Dipper whispered.

She nodded, blinking through her half-lidded eyes. “Yes.”

It was quiet for a moment, other than the sounds of their own breaths. Mabel locked eyes with her twin and saw the fire burning behind them, his look knowing, intense. Her head ducked to kiss him once again, sweet and determined and wanting all at once.

Then, like a reflex, she rolled her hips against his, slow and deep. The boy in her arms gasped and she felt his length twitch inside her. Mabel moved again, gripping his shoulders to anchor herself. Dipper followed her lead in an instant, slowly pushing inside until their hipbones almost met, then pulling back slightly and in again.

Her sensations were consumed by him. She clutched his back, bowing her head into his shoulder, as their bodies rose and fell together like waves. Despite their spine-tingling slow pace, Mabel’s skin quickly became heated with the friction of their movement, beads of sweat forming at the small of her back, her neck, her forehead.

“ _ Dipper _ ,” she moaned, her pleasure-pained voice almost unrecognizable to her own ears.  Scraping her nails through Dipper’s shaggy hair, she hugged his body closer and trailed kisses from the crook of his neck to his earlobe, nibbling at the soft skin there.

She heard him whisper her name just before doting lips sealed over hers in a kiss that was careful, yet desperate and wanting. He gradually picked up speed, the faint sound of skin hitting skin resonating throughout the room at a quickened pace. At some point, Dipper’s hand moved between them, rubbing his agile fingers over her clit in quick, unrelenting circles. In response, she let out a barely stifled moan, moving her hips faster to meet his rhythm, kissing and biting his neck.

Mabel’s fingernails dug into Dipper’s shoulders as she snarled out a ‘ _ don’t you dare slow down _ ’ somewhere between her heavy sighs and the occasional gasp. She was getting close, her muscles tightening in anticipation.

“Oh god.  _ Oh god _ .  _ Fuck _ ,  _ Mabel _ …” Dipper sighed, pumping in and out of her with heightened need, his pace quickening, his fingers never ceasing their motion over her swollen pearl. The fire boiling in her body was so consuming it was like torture. 

Finally, mercifully, Mabel’s body tightened and spasmed as she was pushed over the edge, white-hot euphoria washing over her in waves and making her cry out. She clutched Dipper tightly as she rode the high for a startlingly long time, her eyes clenched shut and her face contorted into a pleasured grimace.

Somehow, through the haze of her burning orgasm, she felt Dipper start to shudder and shake in her arms, his length twitching and pulsing inside her as he followed her over the edge. They reveled in this moment pure, elated bliss, calling each other’s name.

But the moment couldn’t last forever. Slowly, the twins came down from their high. Heavy breaths filled the room as their deathgrips slackened, but they remained in each other’s arms for a long while.

  
Eventually, Mabel’s eyes met Dipper’s once again. He drew her into a tender kiss, and she reached up to gently caress his face. She felt completely at peace. And, in that mo **M** ent, Mabel decid **E** d that whatever it was that they had, no  **M** atter h **O** w unconventional o **R** wrong  **I** t was it was suppos **E** d to be,  **S** he didn’t ever want to let it go.

Dipper’s quiet voice cut through the silence. “…what do we do now?”

Mabel shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess we just… Take it a day at a time,” she said.

Dipper nodded, cradling her cheek and pressing his lips to hers for a long, loving kiss.

“Together,” he said.

“Together,” she echoed.

~~~~~~~~~~

**13 8-17-7-7-13-22-19-6-9 13-17-11, 2-1-7 25-13-26-18-10 13-22-19-5-9-16**

**8-25-9-24 21-7-22-21-3-12-1 16-1-6-24-24-19 24-3-18**

**26-1-1 15-3-12-20-8 12-20-9-11 22-22-20-20 20-7-24 14-19 21-17-23-25-4-5-15-19-21**

**10-3 19-24-16 6-22-18-2 24-26-17-3 20-15-21 12-19-6-17?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end! I was very unsure about how to end this fic and I eventually decided this was as good as anything else I could write, with the twins deciding to walk whatever roads lie ahead of them together. Ultimately, I don't think their romantic relationship is one that could last forever, though that doesn't mean they wouldn't enjoy the time they had when they did love each other that way. 
> 
> And they'll always love each other, even if it's not /that/ way, and that's okay.
> 
> In any case, thanks so much for reading and commenting! I truly appreciate it more than I can show via author's notes. Also, see if you can figure out the little code I put at the end ;) If you're not sure where to start, try themysteryofgravityfalls.com
> 
> (SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: If you liked this fic, I've written a couple more pinecest fics on my tumblr, inlineforpines.tumblr.com, so please check them out over there!)


End file.
